Archive for February, 2009
Israpreneur on the move!
Posted by: | CommentsTo all my readers, we are moving to a new blog platform that will enable us to have many more features and and a cleaner look. So please stay with us while we make the move!
Very cool ecommerce website design. Must view!
Posted by: | CommentsI love to see web design that is so cool that it makes you want to send it out to everyone you know.
This is a must view. Check it out HERE
Only in Israel – Finding Mezuzot in a Hardware store
Posted by: | CommentsI thought this was pretty cool. I walked into a hardware store today just to browse a bit and amongst the shelves full of items I saw Mezuzot cases. You don’t see that in hardware stores in America 
13 Great Tips to making your blog stand-out by ProBlogger
Posted by: | CommentsJust read this excellent post by ProBlogger on making your blog stand-out. For those of you looking to earn some extra shekels by blogging, it is a must read.
1. Pick a unique topic – it is easier said than done to
choose a topic that is unique from everyone else today in a blogosphere
as crowded as we’re currently in – however opportunities do arise to
start blogs on topics that are new trends, products or ideas. Being
first doesn’t guarantee success – but it can help.
2. Develop a Unique Voice – while it may not always be
possible to choose a unique topic it can sometimes be easier to cover
that topic in a way that others do not. Whether it be by using humor,
blogging as a character (think Fake Steve Jobs blog), blogging in the 3rd Person (Manolo the Shoe Blogger) or some other way – finding a unique voice or style can set you apart from the rest.
3. Design – having a unique blog design doesn’t mean you need
to pay big dollars for a custom design – start with a default one (or a
premium design like Thesis)
and tweak it with a unique logo, colors and layout. Visual first
impressions count and can be the deciding factor as to whether people
subscribe to your blog or not.
4. Useful Content – perhaps the best way to
stand out from the crowd and make an impression upon people is to
produce content that impacts them in some way. Write something that
matters, that helps people, that solves a problem, that enhances
people’s lives and you drastically increase the chances of them coming
back and bringing a friend with them.
5. Be Prolific – something that can make a real impression on
people is when they keep ‘bumping into you’. Predict where your
potential readers will be going online and position yourself there as a
prolific contributor. It might be social media sites, it might be the
comments section of another blog or it could be a forum on your topic -
wherever it is – make sure you have an active presence there. If people
keep seeing you in the places that they hang out they’ll eventually
take note and want to know more about you.
CLICK HERE TO READ ALL 13 TIPS
Reading magazines as an education
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I have been reading business magazines for almost 20 years and I must say that I always learn something new. Sometimes it can be a great marketing idea, sometimes it can be an inspiring story and other times it could just be a review of a website that I end up visiting and doing business with. Whenever I go the the States or when one of my partners, friends or family goes to the States I always bring or have brought to me a stack full of my favorite business magazines.
Now I’m not going to go into my personal educational history (although I have some
great stories about that as well), because whether you never graduated High-School (Ahemmm…) or you have an MBA, reading the latest business magazines or magazines pertaining to your industry always gives you insights and inspiration as well as the latest developments that can effect your business.
Some of the magazines I have been reading for years include Entrepreneur, Inc. & Fast Company. Each one is worth reading each month for any entrepreneur, but for almost every industry or specialty business there is a magazine geared for you.
Reading books and blogs offer similar experiences, but we will talk about them in future posts.
Why of why do banks in Israel charge you for depositing large amouns of cash?
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This is something that has always irked me. Banks in Israel (and in the world for that matter) charges you if you deposit a larger then normal sum. In the case of my bank it’s 10,000 NIS (about $2500.00). Sure I get 50% off of my bank fees, and sure it ends up being just a couple of bucks, but it’s the point of it that kills me. Banks thrive on money. When they take our money they are able to lend it out at higher interest rates. So one would think that the more money you put in, the happier the banks would be and they would perhaps give you a gift for depositing large amounts of money and not tax you for it! It’s not like the tellers are working harder. The money counting machines take perhaps 2-3 seconds longer max and printing out the reciept is the same amounf of effort no matter how many zeros are on it. So why charge us?
When seeking a position in Israel come from a position of strength not weakness!
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A couple of days ago I was consulting a women who wanted to expand her skill set and perhaps take a job at a very low level or even for free in order to get her feet wet. I had a great conversation with her and I wanted to share with you some of the things I said. More and more I am hearing about friends and people I know that are losing their jobs in Israel because of the current global economic situation. It pains me every time I hear of someone else getting laid off since it is much harder to get a job in today's market. I read somewhere recently that for every job that becomes available in Israel, 5 people are trying to get it.
So how do you get it? How do you become the 1 that gets the job and not the 4 that doesn't?
Before we answer that I want to answer the question about why most people leave their jobs to start a company. Even if they are happy with their jobs they eventually realize one thing and that is why should I work 10 hours a day making someone else money when I can be making myself money? Now of course this is not the course for everyone since it is easier said then done, but that is the concept behind it. What I would like to suggest is applying that same attitude when looking for a job.
What do I mean? If you are looking to gain new skills in internet marketing, then why spend 6 months or a year working for a company to build them up? Why work for a few shekels an hour and start a blog, twitter account, or Facebook fan page for a company when you can be building yourself up. Build your brand and not your companies brand.
Below are some of the things I suggested to her to do:
- Start Your own blog and post everyday
- Get on to Twitter and start following people and offer value to get others to follow you
- Get on Facebook and LinkedIN, now more than ever it is important to build and utilize your network
- Get speaking engagements! Do it for free! Offer free courses or lectures about topics you are passionate about. Make sure to record them and post them on your blog or website
- Write articles! Write about what you know and get them printed in newspapers, magazines and on other blogs
- Read every post by Chris Brogan (www.ChrisBrogan.com) He is a master at self branding
- Do a search on Google for "Personal Branding" and learn everything you can about branding yourself
- Check out: www.synthasite.com to build a free website and blog
I said if you do this for 6 months then after six months you would have created an exceptional brand about yourself. Now when you go into a company for an "interview", you won't just be one of the 5, but in a league of your own. You can point out how you are a published writer, a speaker, how you have thousands of people following you on Twitter, that you have hundreds of posts on your blog that is being read by hundreds of people, how you have hundreds of people as fans of yours on Facebook etc. And now you can tell the company that you will do the same for them. Now you are coming from a position of strength and not weakness.
You may even decide to work as a consultant and work from home or you may just have so much fun building up your personal brand that you decide to do that full time and start to charge for your services.
Register a .com domain name today for only $1.19 with GoDaddy.com
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One of the things I have not yet talked about on this blog is domain names. Domain Names are something I am very passionate about and have been writing about them for over ten years. Every company today needs to have a domain name and the king of domain names is .com. Personally I am a huge fan of the .TV extension, but we will talk about that another time.
I have been pretty happy with GoDaddy and was using them when Bob Parsons himself would pick up the phone when I called. Today they are the largest domain name register.
There is a special offer that is running for the last couple of days, but for sure won't last that long. You can register 1 .com name for a year for only $1.19. In order to get it though you need to use the Coupon Code "Love99" to get it.
I registered the domain StartUpGenerated.com which is for an idea I have about start-ups posting their own generated content in order to help out other start-ups. What name did you register?
Almost 20,000 people laid off in Israel in the month of January
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Not good news being reported by Arutz7. Seems that almost 20,000 People have been laid off in Israel in the month of January. That's 20,000 of our brothers and sisters that now have to look for a new job in the worst hiring freeze in a decade. We need more innovation and perhaps the government should take more of a proactive stance in creating jobs much like President Obama is trying to do in the USA. I belive that Israel can do it in 1/4th the time that it will take the USA if they put their minds to it and cut any red tape. Truthfully this is what Bibi should be spending his time doing.
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com)
The financial crisis around the world has hit Israel in record numbers:
Nearly 20,000 people were laid off in January, higher than any month in
history.
Before the financial crisis that began several months
ago, the average number of layoffs in Israel stood around 10,000, with
more people finding work per month than were laid off. The trend now
is the opposite.
The January high was reached after the previous month also registered a national record – 17,499 layoffs.
The
National Employment Service reports that the number of those seeking
work – 218,500 – climbed 3.8% from December to January, and is 15% more
than the previous January.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE
Please call me back in 5 minutes with your order, my cell phone is ringing
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Imagine you call up a restaurant and you are in the middle of giving your order and the guy taking your order tells you that you should call back in 5 minutes because his cell phone is ringing. Chutzpa you would say? Unbelievable perhaps? Perhaps, but also 100% True. This happened to a very close friend of mine and he was simply flabbergasted.
So he called back in 5 minutes, but the line was busy. It took him 20 minutes before he got a live person on the phone and by that time they told him it would take an hour and a half to get his order.
Only in Israel my friends, only in Israel.
